The Other Side of the Wall

Prison Chaplain brings faith to inmates at Stateville Correctional Center

By: Deborah Kadin – Daily Herald Staff Writer

Three days a week, Lori Wilbert takes her customary solitary walk down paths toward the cellblocks at Stateville Correctional Center.

The distinct sonorous tone of heavy steel gates slamming closed brings a finality of its own.

But what the Lutheran chaplain tries to bring to the murderers, rapists and other hardened men she visits is a little humanity—inspiring words that will help them realize God is with them, even in lonely, cold, lifeless cells.

Her work is the result of support from members of Lutheran Church Missouri-synod congregations from DuPage, Kane, Will, Cook, Lake, McHenry and about a dozen other counties in northern Illinois.

Wilbert's work is an extension of Jesus' ministry in the world, said the Rev. Paul Dobberstein, interim pastor of Lutheran Church of St. Luke's in Itasca. Jesus himself called people to visit those who live on the margins of society.

"She does good work, and we support that," he said.
After 17 years of taking that walk and talking with men with whom many have given, up, Wilbert still believes in them.

"If I treat them as people with very little worth, then no one around me is worthwhile either," said Wilbert, a deaconess in the Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod.

In 1986, the rural Wisconsin native went from the comfortable surroundings of South Side Chicago congregations to the sterile and cold world of souls behind bars.

Wilbert became the first female chaplain to do rounds at Stateville, a maximum-security prison in Crest Hill.
Her work also has taken her to Kankakee Women's Prison, Sheridan Correctional Center, and the Illinois Youth Center in Joliet.

On each of her visits, she talks with the men about their frustrations, family problems, world affairs, music and, of course, God.

She brings them "The Daily Bread," a book of prayers and readings; magazines; materials; and a sense of the outside world.

Inmates, whose lives are defined by an 8-by-14-foot concrete and steel cell, have grown to trust the woman with the gentle voice and a smile that one inmate said could rival the Mona Lisa.

They respect her because she treats them with respect. She brings them hope, said Kenny Lewis, who is serving a life sentence for armed robbery. His case is on appeal.

"No one else around here comes to you and gives you such a positive message," said Lewis, who has known Wilbert for 10 years.

Inmate Calvin Trice also gets solace from her classes. Wilbert is part of a 12-step program on alcohol and drug addiction. Her sessions combine self-improvement with doses of spirituality.

"She give me courage," said Trice, who met Wilbert when he began serving a life sentence for murder in 1987.

In 1986, Wilbert was teaching catechism and Bible studies and performing hospital ministry on Chicago's South Side when Robert Kramer, Stateville's Lutheran minister, suggested she try prison work. She didn't hesitate.

Kramer, who trained her, knew she would succeed because she was nonjudgmental and could read prisoners easily, important attributes for a prison chaplain.

"She doesn't get intimidated by staff or inmates," said Kramer, who retired in 1997 after more than 25 years at Stateville. "She's very gifted, very persevering."

That's not to say that intimidation hasn't stopped her from nearly walking away from it.

At Sheridan, an inmate who had been repeatedly transferred from one prison to another, became so enraged that he began ripping plumbing out of the wall, yelling obscenities and egging other inmates to act up.

By the time Wilbert arrived, the inmate had worked himself into such a state that he primed the entire cellblock to terrorize her.

After hours of trying to calm him down, she left and broke into tears. She vowed not to return. But she did, and eventually, the inmate apologized.

Wilbert regularly talks with Lutheran congregations around the suburbs, sharing her experiences, and discussing prison reform and the criminal justice system.

She also educates them about restorative justice, and increasingly important part of her work. Through this process, inmates own up to their actions and make amends with their victims.

"We believe in grace. Grace is there before anyone confesses their sin. We believe that because of what Christ has already done, absolution is there," she said. "We're all accountable for our actions of harm toward another. As we understand that accountability, we come to a new understanding of the forgiveness of Christ."

Wilbert said working in the prison has transformed her. She has become an opponent of the death penalty and has grown to see the inequities of their world, including the criminal justice system.

"This has made me who I am. I've become more spiritual," she said. "I'm privileged because I have walked behind the wall."

The ministry may not continue past January 31 because the district is eliminating it because of budget constraints. Two other ministries also may be eliminated at the same time.

That concerns people who have worked with and know Wilbert. The Rev. Martin Haeger, a member of the district's congregational services staff, wants to find enough of the 249 congregations that will financially support her work.

"Wilbert and her work would be sorely missed," he said.
The Rev. Gary Peterson, spiritual leader of Naperville's Word of Life Lutheran Church, said the congregation could lend a hand. Wilbert spoke about her work and prison reform issues before a women's group therein January.

"We have become more aware of her work and find it important," he said. "We will do our share."